Web Comics

Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant is a web comic that I've loved for some time now, I love history and this series is all about poking fun at it. It is structured more like a comic strip, in that there is no set chronological narrative, its a very easy read and its humor gets me every time. 

I would recommend this strip to my friends who would probably understand it, being a history-centric comic, there are some somewhat obscure literary and historical references that you've got to know to understand it. 

Another web comic with some historically references that I really enjoy is Patrik the Vampire by Bree Paulsen, it's alright humor but it has some really nice moments once you get going with it. 

http://patrikthevampire.tumblr.com/

And here is a list of some other really good ones:

The Glass Scientists

http://www.theglassscientists.com/

About Merpeople (Megan Dong does a lot of mini comics like Kate, suuuper funny)

http://aboutmerpeople.tumblr.com/

Watchmen

I've only recently read Alan Moore's 'Watchmen'. And I feel bad about missing out on it for so long. It was a very interesting experience full of many themes artfully woven inside the dystopian New York scene. The one of the themes that I observed was the representation of God as Dr. Manhattan. Manhattan's character represents God in the sense that he does not care for petty problems or disputes, since they don't affect him. I also enjoyed that Watchmen gave me more than just capes and fanfare, it also gave me what it's like living behind the mask.

It was also really great listening to Alan Moore's Mindscape, ah he's living my dream of making art and being a wizard. But on a real note a lot of what he said stuck with me, a lot of it ringed true and what a world we would live in today if more people thought the way he did. 

Comics by Women: Fun Home & This One Summer

I really enjoyed the experience of reading Fun Home, Alison Bechdel really knows how to reel you into her life, I was only expecting to read a couple pages and then move onto to something else but before I knew it I had finished the whole thing. I'm not sure if it was the fact that the comic was made by a queer artist, targeted to a queer-friendly youth, but I felt very connected to the reading and felt attached to Bechdel throughout most  situations in the story. Although I've not had the experience of growing up with a closeted and/or sexually unsure parent, it was a really interesting view I'd never seen portrayed in narrative before.

This One Summer has got to be my favorite graphic novel currently, without a doubt. Jillian and Mariko Tamaki have created both a visually stunning and compelling piece, that makes you realize things about yourself that you wish you could have known earlier. I would have loved to have been able to read this book when I was a preteen, it would have helped a lot. It's a beautiful coming of age novel that even now when I'm twenty is sort of easy to relate to if I look back at memories I've had of past vacations. This book is one that I own personally and recommend to friends all the time, but I love it so much I can't bring myself to let them borrow my copy haha.

Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp is amazing, David Mazzucchelli really knocked it out of the park with this in my opinion. Really great read, I was first introduced it to via my illustration teacher who thought that I'd enjoy the color schemes and was very taken with it right off the bat. It is a gem of a graphic novel, this is probably one of the most visually appealing comics I've seen. Asterios Polyp follows the life of the main character, of the same name, and his struggles with going through life. It deals with his relationships with various women in his life-- his first wife, being the center of one of the book's longest arcs. It also deals with Asterios' relationship with himself, and the brother he never had-- a twin named Ignacio who died in the womb, but he still holds to dearly. Every detail about him, from how he’s drawn, to how he views the world, to what he says is so void of any emotion and logical that I find it very difficult to relate to him, and tired of his dialogue very quickly. His treatment of other people is also very logical and shrewd, and his whole character just irritates me. His wife, on the other hand, I was very sympathetic toward. I like how the artist differentiated Asterios and his wife with sharp lines, angles and blocks of color and then spheres, curves and shading. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone interested in getting into graphic novels.

Anime and Manga

Growing up I was a huge fan of both anime and manga, I remember being first introduced to it by my Dad putting on Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke and it kind of changed me forever. I'm still am a fan of manga, despite my fervor for the genre having its ups and downs for a bit until getting to college. I was once into many shonen comics such as Naruto and Bleach, they were just full of stories that really fascinated me. I also came to love many of the older movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell, I feel like the content was just so much more enjoyable compared to what I had been so used to seeing in western animation. I’ve always loved animation.  Even as a kid, I wanted variety in what I watched; Cow and Chicken, or Power-puff girls, as good as they were, never really had the emotional impact on me like this did. Japanese animation’s appeal, to myself, often stems from the fact that it covers almost anyone’s tastes, whether you're into action, drama, super creepy stuff or horror, its pretty much got everything.

Watching Scott Pilgrim in class reminded he that its also one of my favorite movies, it had been so long since the last time I'd seen it. It's got so many sweet references and it feels great to be able to say "Oh man I know where that's from!" I enjoy all the video game references too, especially in the movie when the Fairy Fountain theme from the Zelda series began to play in Scott’s dream. I like how realistic it is in how the characters interact with each other, but also enjoy the fantasy aspects that come alive when the plot starts picking up.

Maus

At first glance I thought that Maus was going to be like most of the books on the Holocaust that we had read in grade school, like Boy in the Stripped Pajamas or Night, but after reading some of it I was very impressed with how it was done. It was so captivating, and what really got me the most was the simplicity of everything especially the features of the characters. They are so simple and void of defining features that they became more like symbols, such as what was talked about by Scott McCloud. It narrows down the distinction to just outfits and different species of animal, and this becomes the vehicle for the message.

With each of these different types of people being depicted in varying animal groups, its interesting to see the author’s own prejudices come out, for example the Polish being depicted as pigs. Even though  the characters for the most part are very simple there is still some uniqueness to them, it was very entertaining to get to know them through each of their quirks. Through these quirks the reader can sort of relate to the characters, and it allows the reader to feel reminded that this happened to real people. 

Underground Comics

After flipping through the recommended readings, my overall statement is that, these comics are pretty fun. They don’t very much appeal to me personally, and I don’t find them particularly exciting or inspiring at all, but I think they’re definitely an important part of the history of comics. I think that in they’re own way they stand for the freedom of print and freedom of craft, and if it wasn’t for these crazy comics I don’t believe we’d have the comics we have today.

Overall I didn’t really mind the how clunky and grotesque these comics were, because they were meant to be that way, though I can see how some would easily find offense in them. It kind of made me feel like I was doing something bad by reading it, like that feeling you get when you're a kid sneaking into a rated R movie, and you have to check over you're shoulder just to make sure no ones around.

 I think that this time in comics history was a good entry point for young up and coming artists to let loose and nudge at the reader’s inner self and dare you to look deeper.